


Safe

by live_and_let_live



Series: Connections [1]
Category: Ghostfacers - Fandom, Supernatural
Genre: Boys Kissing, Canon Gay Character, Canonical Character Death, Cheese, Cute, Episode: s03e13 Ghostfacers, Fake Character Death, Happy Ending, Hospitals, I'm just being safe, Love Bites, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Not really Mature, The Ghostfacers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-14
Updated: 2016-03-14
Packaged: 2018-05-26 18:49:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6251482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/live_and_let_live/pseuds/live_and_let_live
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There isn't enough Ed/Corbett fanfiction out there, so I though I'd add some more.<br/></p>
<p>First version of a story in which Ed loves Corbett back properly. <br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	Safe

**Author's Note:**

> There are two versions of this story, I've posted them in a series. The first part is the same and depending on preference, either a happier version, a more sad version, or both versions can be read. It is not necessary for both to be read, as they are separate stories save for the beginning.  
> 

_Why him?_   


That's the thought that runs through Ed's head as the steely texture of the metal rebar becomes visible through Corbett's throat, a sheen of sticky blood clinging to its surface. Ed's mouth hangs open in a horrified contortion as the death-echo of his teammate shudders and gasps in pain before him. He tries the radios in a desperate attempt to reach Harry, but all he gets is static.  


With Maggie passed out within the salt circle, he steps out of its safety, tears coming to his eyes as he approaches his dying friend. He knows about Corbett's feelings towards him, how could he have not? With the French vanilla coffee, and the almost constant dreamy smiles directed at him, he couldn't miss them. And now Corbett is dead, and is dying again, and again, and again right in front of him, and there's nothing he can do.   


Seconds later Dean runs into the room and stares at Ed in horror.  


"Dammit! What did I say about the circle? Get back in the goddamn circle!" Ed winces at the angry tone, but stays glued to the spot, more tears escaping as he watches Corbett suffer. Dean shouts again.  


"Christ Ed! Am I gonna have to move you back in? I told you, only somebody who was loved by a sprit can break them out of a death-echo! There's nothing you can do for him man!" But there is, Ed thinks.   


"He loves me." Ed says, tearing his eyes away from the sight before him. He realises his use of the present tense, but doesn't correct himself. Dean's eyes roll.  


"No man, not that type of love, I bet that kid loved everyone. It has to somebody he was in love with. Now get back in the goddamn circle before I shove your ass in there!" Ed lets out another sob, hating to hear about Corbett in the past tense. He steps back into the salt circle and returns his eyes to the death-echo.  


"He is ... He _was_ in love with me..." Dean joins him in the circle and checks his gun. He raises his eyebrows at Ed.  


"Like _loved_ loved you? As in gay loved you?" Ed lets more tears run down his cheeks.  


"Yeah.... Or at least he acted like it... what can I do to get him out of that?" Ed still is unable to stop the sobs leaving his mouth and shaking his body, but turns to Dean hopefully.  


"Ur, wow man, okay that's great actually. Just talk to him, let him know it's you, maybe convince him to help us, if he _did_ love you then it should get him out." Ed looks doubtful, but steps out of the circle and moves in front of Corbett. He looks back at Dean, doubt filling his eyes.   


"Go on man, it's worth a shot, yeah?" Ed reaches an arm forwards and places his hand where Corbett's shoulder should be. He can feel the shudders Corbett makes and a cold feeling encases his hand. He wills his tears away and looks into Corbett's eyes.   


"Corbett? Corbett can you hear me?" Ed's voice wavers but he continues.   


"Corbett, you meant so much to the team, you meant so much to me. And... and you were so sweet, and you cared so much for the team. You were such a valuable part of the Ghostfacers...." Tears come back to Ed and he looks down. He feels the cold shuddering stop, and looks back. Corbett is smiling at him, blood is dripping from his neck but he's _smiling_ at Ed, and it's the most beautiful thing, and now Ed really can't stop crying.   


"And Corbett... I know all this... I know all this and so much more, because I... because I loved you. Corbett, I _love_ you. And if I get out of here alive I don't know what I'm going to do, because there's going to be nobody to make me French vanilla coffee, or to help with the equipment, or to look at me like I'm the only person in the world, or be in love with me.... And I know that sounds selfish, so just... just know that I love you too, and if you could help us... help _me_ out here, I would be forever grateful to you, Corbett." Ed's properly crying now, and Dean is pulling him back into the circle. Then Corbett follows Ed with his eyes and and shakily opens his mouth.  


"E-Ed..." He mutters, the rebar appearing in his throat once again, and a familiar look of admiration coming onto his bruised face.   


"E-Ed... I l-love y-you..." Ed quickly steps out of the circle and tries to hug Corbett, but the death-echo is gone. Ed breaks down and falls to the floor sobbing. Dean walks over to his duffel and grabs the salt from it. Making a separate circle around Ed.   


"Look lover-boy, I'm gonna go find Sam, please keep yourself in the circle this time." Ed nods, wincing as a beginning of a headache thrums in his skull.   


"And keep the girl safe too!" Dean shouts as he exits the main hall. Ed just curls into a ball and tries to fall asleep, hoping that maybe the ghost-man will be able to get past the salt and kill him too, at least then he wouldn't have to deal with any of this. He wonders why they didn't listen to Dean and Sam last time they met, why they had to go on messing around with all this ghost hunting. Maybe then Corbett would still be alive, but then Ed would have never met him. But Ed guesses Corbett would be better off alive than dead. Ed also thinks he'd be better off dead than alive. With the image of Corbett dying playing over in his head, he falls unconscious.  


\------------------------

_Corbett is dead_   


When he wakes up, facing the padded roof of the van, the events flood into his mind, drowning him. Ed finds it hard to breath.  


With this sudden realisation hitting him like a train, Ed sits up and gasps in air. He rips his glasses from his face and puts his head in his hands, his body shakes and tears flow freely down his face. A hard banging makes Ed whips his head up and grabs his glasses, shoving them onto his face and trying to stand in the cramped interior of the van.   


"Hey man, you okay?" Harry's (much too cheerful) voice echoes through the van, and suddenly Ed feels very small.   


"I... fuck, I let him die Harry! He w-was so excited, and... oh my god Harry..." Ed turns away from his friend and shudders.  


_"What have I done..."_

Harry looks on at Ed with the most confused face, and opens and closes his mouth, no words coming out.  


"I.. what the hell are you talking about... what kind of weird dream did you have? Corbett's fine... well not fine, he's in hospital, but he's alive." Ed turns back to face Harry and almost stops breathing entirely.  


"But I saw him _die_ Harry, a rebar straight through the neck. He couldn't have survived..." Harry continues to look confused and he offers a hand to Ed. Ed takes the offered hand is is swiftly pulled from the back of the van. It's the middle of the day but the wind is cold and biting, the hospital car park providing no shelter. Ed doesn't care.  


"Harry, Corbett's dead!" Harry shakes his head.  


"He's not Ed, I promise, look we're at the hospital now, I'm sure he'd love to see you there." Harry looks at Ed, smiling. Ed just stares through him.  


"It's not possible..." Ed mumbles. But he follows Harry into the stark white reception of the hospital. Harry directs him to the right and up two flights of stairs.   


"Maggie and Spruce are already up there, the doctors have already checked Maggie's head wound, and she's completely fine, just gonna have a bit of a bruise there for a couple of months. No biggie." Ed nods, still trying to process that Corbett's _not dead_.  


Ed feels pressure on his back, and then he's being pushed into a hospital room. A faint smell of disinfectant, vanilla, and coffee invades his senses and a smile brighter than the goddamn sun shines out at him. He makes the journey to the bed in a small number of strides, and then the smell of vanilla is overpowering as warm arms wrap around his shoulders and a smile burns itself into his neck.   


"I love you Ed" a small voice mumbles into his neck. Ed just hugs Corbett harder. Then Ed pulls back.  


"You died. You were dead. I saw you die Corbett." Corbett frowns and looks up at Ed, he tries to shake his head, although he has difficulty with the bandages around his neck.   


"I thought I was dead too. But I... I never really died, Ed." Corbett chokes out, the effort obviously paining him.   


"That guy, the one at the house, the spirit... he, he faked it. O-or at least I think he did. He s-sort of drove an invisible bar through me..." Ed winces at the description.   


"I-it hurt, though, like the real thing I guess..." Corbett's smile has faltered by now. Maggie looks on, an expression of deep-thought on her face, from her space in the plastic hospital chair.   


"But what if he did kill you?" She says, turning her blank gaze to Corbett.  


"He could've killed you, I mean you have a scar on either side of your neck, but how could that even be there if he didn't actually puncture your flesh? And how would it then make sense to heal this quickly?" Corbett looks down and a distant look comes over his face. He smiles and looks back at Ed.  


"I think it was you..." Ed does a double take.   


"What do you mean it was me?! I didn't do anything to you! How could I? I love y-..." Ed trails off.  


"Exactly." Corbett mutters. He smiles again, this time brighter.  


"Exactly! If you... love me, then maybe that energy was strong enough to keep me alive, maybe even bring me _back_ to life... Maggie, Harry? how much do we know about death connections?" Maggie thinks for a moment.  


"Urm, well not much, but we know from that circus job that love can keep a _spirit_ on Earth. But we know nothing about love keeping a human that should have _died_ on Earth." Ed frowns when death is mentioned and Maggie mouths 'sorry' at him. Harry has resorted to digging around in his duffel bag and muttering curse words under his breath.   


"Before those idiots wiped our episode, they gave me their number, told me to 'call if things get rough', it's in here somewhere. We can always just... give them a call and ask them if they've ever come across a situation like this before." Ed's mouth drops open.   


"Harry that's a great idea! You know that those guys at least know _some_ things about ghosts." Harry grunts in approval and continues to rummage through his bag. Whilst Harry grumbles to himself about the older hunters, Corbett's hand slowly makes its way down the bed sheets, before coming to a comfortable rest on Ed's fingertips. Ed looks down and moves his hand to clasp with Corbett's. They smile at each other and Maggie gives them an amused look. Spruce is still sat in the corner, fiddling with a piece of wood and a penknife. He notices nothing. Then Harry's face brightens.   


"Aha! Got it!" He pulls out a scrap of torn paper and quickly dials the number into his waiting phone. The call rings three times before there's a click, the loud slam of a car door, and the distant thump of music.   


"Hello?" The voice of the younger Winchester crackles through the receiver. Harry gives the team a thumbs-up.  


"Yeah hi, this is Harry, you know the Ghostfacer from the Morton House?" A light chuckle can be heard through the phone throughout the room.   


"Oh, hey Harry. How's that kid?" Ed can surprisingly hear concern in Sam's voice.   


"Urm, that's actually why I'm calling. He's okay and we're all pretty glad for that, but we have a bit of a problem with _how_ he's okay... It's just that Maggie reckons that Corbett actually died, and Ed's brave love confession to the death-echo was so powerful that it brought him back, you know... from the dead..." Sam sighs from the other end of the line, and the distant crunch of feet on gravel can be heard. Harry the turns the phone to speaker mode  


"We've had a case like that, actually. Only once before, but we know what it is." The room waits in silent anticipation for Sam to continue.   


"It's... it's a, thing. A quite serious thing actually. And whatever your buddies share, it isn't just platonic. And ur, well they're basically joined by their hearts for life. As in, one of them gets hurt, and from now the other would feel it too. They're sort of... connected." Corbett squeezes Ed's hand and Ed doesn't move, not one muscle.   


"So does that mean if one of us were to be killed whilst on a job, we'd both die?" Corbett tries to shout to the phone across the room. Sam just about hears it.  


"Corbett right? Yeah, whatever happened between your death-echo and Ed, essentially brought you back to life. But the cost is your lives are now tied together, but this isn't like a marriage, because it really is for better or _worse_ ".   


Harry glances between Ed and Corbett, who are looking at each other worriedly. Corbett bites his lip and frowns slightly.   


"I'm so sorry... Ed I'm so sorry... I never wanted this to happen!" Corbett becomes frustrated and Ed looks at him sadly.  


"Corbett, it's alright. Nothing bad will happen because of this. I'll make sure of that."  


"But-" Harry interrupts "but what about Ghostfacers, you can't just quit Ed, you're our team leader," Ed stares incredulously at Harry.  


"Harry you know how dangerous that could be, if it's double the lives at risk, it's not worth it. Me and Corbett can stay with the Ghostfacers, but you'll need more members for the missions, I can't risk Corbett's life again..." Harry frowns. The atmosphere becomes uncomfortably quiet. Harry's next words slice though the silence.  


"Well I think we've been here long enough, I'm sure Corbett will be fine on his own. Come on Maggie, Spruce..." He stares at Ed and trails off "Ed?" Ed coldly returns his stare.  


"You know I'm staying here Harry." Harry, Spruce and Maggie get up from their chairs and leave the small hospital room. Corbett lets go of Ed's hand and looks up from the sheets, he smiles.  


"you can leave if you want Ed, you don't have to stay. I'm sure the staff here will be good enough company. And anyway, I'm sure you need some time to clear your head after all of this, go join the others." Ed shakes his head.  


"I don't want to." Ed places his hand over Corbett's again, intwines their fingers. He leans towards Corbett and places their foreheads so they just touch. Their breaths mingle between them and Corbett looks into Ed's eyes.  


"I'm not going anywhere Corbett" corbett shudders out a shaky breath, closing his eyes. Ed moves forward and touches their lips together. It's so brief that Corbett almost misses it. Eager to feel the press of Ed's lips on his again, Corbett leans upwards and their lips meet once again. Corbett uses his left arm to prop himself up on the bed whilst he wraps his right around Ed's shoulders. Ed moves his hand to cup Corbett's jaw and rubs his thumb gently across the smooth skin of Corbett's cheek. Corbett gasps softly into Ed's mouth, his closed eyes crinkling as he smiles into the kiss. Ed chuckles and pulls away, placing a last small kiss to Corbett's forehead.   


"Can I try something? I want to see if Sam was right about the 'sharing pain' part of this connection." Ed moves his head towards Corbett's neck. Corbett smiles wider.   


"Sure, just... Ed, what if he's wrong? What if we're not joined by our hearts? Will you stay in the Ghostfacers? You know, hunting ghosts instead of staying around the base." Ed shakes his head, pulling the thin material of Corbett's hospital gown over his shoulder, his beard brushing against Corbett's upper chest as he presses kisses to Corbett's neck.  


"No, I told you, I'm staying with you." Corbett smiles in approval.  


Ed bites down gently on Corbett's collarbone, sucking a small mark into the soft flesh. He feels a tingling sensation on his own collarbone, not unlike the sensation Corbett feels as the mark darkens. Ed smiles and places a kiss to the mark, pulling the hospital gown back over Corbett's shoulder. He kisses Corbett's slightly open mouth and whispers against it.  


"I felt that..." Corbett grins and unbuttons the top button of Ed's shirt.  


"Can I try?" Ed nods. Corbett slowly sits up completely, leaning towards Ed as he does. He pulls the collar of Ed's shirt down and places his mouth on Ed's neck, softly sucking. He pulls away to reveal a small pink mark on Ed's skin.  


"I didn't feel anything, why didn't it work?" Corbett meets Ed's eyes with his own, confusion clouding his face. Ed simply smiles back at him.  


"You need to do I harder, even _I_ struggled to feel that, don't be afraid to use your teeth." Corbett's face darkens in a crimson blush. He moves his mouth back to Ed's neck, sucking harder this time, scraping his teeth across the now darkening mark. He feels the same tingling sensation as he did when Ed was marking _his_ neck. He smiles, just as Ed did and pulls away. He fastens Ed's top button up and presses another kiss to his lips.  


"I felt it too." Ed grins at this and wraps his arms around Corbett's waist, Corbett smiles into Ed's shoulder.  


"I guess now we've established that this connection is real Corbett, I'm just gonna have to keep you safe."  


They know that this is going to make both of their lives so much more dangerous, but neither Corbett nor Ed care, because as long as one of them's alive, they'll always know the other is too. And that's really all they need.


End file.
